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6th graders are studying the solar system in science class.  To help students understand how vastly different our planets are in size, students used Play-Doh to make models of each planet in proportion to their sizes.  Students saw first hand how small Earth is compared to Jupiter.

For the exercise, students started with 3 lbs of Play-Doh and divided it into 10 equal parts.  They took 6 of those and it became Jupiter and 3 became Saturn.  They took the remaining piece and divided it into 10 equal parts and 5 were added to Saturn, 2 became Neptune and two others became Uranus and the remaining piece was divided into 10 equal parts.  Students kept going until they had the right size for each planet proportionately.  This was a great way to help students visually see how different the planets are in size.